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Based on what I'm hearing here. I should be able to make a waypoint in GooEarth and then use those coords to set a new waypoint in my iFinder. Once I physically go to the waypoint, it should match up? I tried this recently and the waypoint was off about 50 feet. I set a waypoint on GooEarth for the street corner at work, I entered the coords into a new waypoint in the iFinder, walked out to the street corner and accoring to the iFinder, the waypoint was about 50 feet WNW from the actual street corner. What would cause this? It seems like the iFinder is/was inaccurate at that time. This could explain why I could not find to gc's that I recently tried to find. How do I fix this?

Bought mine from Pagecomputers.com... no problems. That's a great gift to get your bf... lucky guy

this makes for a good question... How do you find a benchmark? I tried to find two caches not too long ago that were close to each other. I couldn't find either but I could tell I was at least in the ballpark... I know my datum is set to wsg84. A benchmark might help.

Even if the software company tells you that you cannot sell your used software, you certainly can. Just like they're selling you a license, you can turn around and sell that same license. All they can do it try to convince you not to sell it. The first-sale doctrine is an exception to copyright codified in the US Copyright Act, section 109. The doctrine of first sale allows the purchaser to transfer (i.e. sell or give away) a particular, legally acquired copy of protected work without permission once it has been obtained. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_piracy

an important consideration. get one that uses regular AA batteries. The eXplorist Magellan line has a special battery. You can get 4 AA rechargables with a charger for around $10. I'd have to be stuck in the woods without a way to charge and no extras. At least regular batteries are cheap and plentiful.

got my replacement LEI reader today and it works the first time. Hallelujah

nah, the LEI reader is total crap and simply won't work.

already had tried that a couple of times... the LEI reader is so weird... it's flaky and I think it's broken. But since MapCreate let me register the sd card with the sandisk reader... I don't care. I hope the new LEI reader works as a backup.

I got a map extracted and saved using the sandisk reader. Here's what I did. I opened the card registry dialog in MapCreate. I clicked "Register this card" with the card in the sandisk reader selected. After that it worked like it should. I thought I couldn't register a card without the LEI reader?

here's the deal. LEI reader says it's malfunctioned when I plug it in. I can't even install the drivers that came with it because it says the hardware is not a match. It did work once when I first got it. I was able to register the card at that time and transfer 2 maps. Sandisk reader works perfectly as a regular reader. When I try to save a map to the sandisk reader, MapCreate says it's write protected and never even gets to the point of extracting the map. I called lowrance, they're sending another reader. I hope it works because I am absolutely fed up. I've read lee rimar's other post and done everything there to try to make with work to no avail.

Lee rimar, i'm interested in how you got a reader other than the LEI reader to work. I have one registered card. I have a defective LEI reader and a perfectly good sandisk reader. I have the LEI drivers installed (not in use with the good reader) and I have no "generic usb mass storage" drive listed in the "add remove programs" widget in Control Panel. When I make a map border file I get a message saying the drive is write protected and I can get no further. The drive is not write protected and the registered card is in the drive. I'm using MapCreate 6.3.282 with WinXP Home. I'm very interested in getting this working, even if the replacement reader Lowrance is sending does work.

Thanks Lee, I'd be interested in finding out how to use other SD readers. The problem I encountered with mine is that mapcreate always says my other SD reader is write protected, even when it's not.

I have the same problem except the reader I have is defective apparently. It worked once so far in a month. Everytime I plug it in Windows (XP) says it's a malfunctioning device. Of course, LEI gives us the crappiest reader in existance and forces us to use their branded reader. Pretty frustrating.

I just bought my first gps, the iFinder H2O plus. It's a nice unit and I like it. Ths pluses for me were: standard batteries (AA) sd card slot detailed maps come with the "plus" version Seems very easy to use has most of the features I wanted for a first time unit. A friend has a Garmin 60cs, which is very nice, but a lot more than I wanted to spend. One of the things I noticed is that you must buy the detailed maps. Without them, your hiking or geocaching wouldn't be the same. In the month I've had it, I've *needed* the detailed maps. Most cost around $75+ for a USA or Canada cd. The software that came with it is nice and I have no problem with it at all. Very detailed. The mmc/sd reader that came with mine works about 1% of the time, the last time I needed the detail, I wasn't able to use it. You must have an LEI brand reader to use the software with your unit which is kind of weird and I've been unable to create a burned backup of the the mapcreate CD so far. If you have the money to waste you'd probably be more happy with the Garmin, but if you're not willing to spend it just to see or if you're poor, I would recommend the iFinder.

I bought an iFinder H2O plus with MapCreate 6.3 (came with a reader and a 64mb sd card) The MMC/SD reader is utter crap and won't work on my computer (XP home) 99% of the time. Then I found out that MapCreate only works with the LEI reader (after I spent $23+ on a nice new 5-in-1 reader). Any ideas on how to get around this problem? Also, I tried making a backup of the MapCreate CDs and it will only work with the original. It's not illegal to make a backup and I don't want to use and get stuck with only one copy in case something goes wrong. I'd like to know how to make a dup of the CD as well if anyone has any idea. My respect for LEI is fading quickly.

Thanks. There is so much to look at with GPS units. I considered going lower (non0mapping), but I don't want to end up needing more and regreting. I assume that buying something like what you've mentioned will keep me happy for a year or two and let me learn thru experience what I need/want for the next purchase.

So what I'm hearing is that the cost is not just the unit. Bare minimum, I'll need a unit, mapping software, and maps. Which maps are the best? Are Garmin maps better than Magellan? I like the Sportrak Pro, what is the equivalent Garmin product?

I'm looking at buying my first gps unit and have a question on maps and software. It seems like the units all use different software. Are the maps compatible? What type of map is considered essential if any? Which units come with a set of maps that the average user would need? For instance, I live in NC. I have enough money to buy a midrange unit, and if I do, I want to be able to use it without having to shell out extra dough for additional maps. I'll use it mostly for hiking, but I may try to find some caches. Thanks for any advise. Hardware wise, I know I don't care about the "S" sensors (nice, but pricey), I know I want a non-proprietary battery, don't care about color, expandability is nice, but probably more than I need.